Glimpses of student life at TUAS

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One of the biggest exchange student event organized by ESN is probably the Lapland trip. Unfortunately, it has a definite number of places and it fills up very quickly. Most of the people living in the Dorm didn’t have a chance to subscribe to the ESN trip so they decided to make their own. We booked the trip online altogether in order to have the same information and planned the rest of the trip. We were 11 friends going to Saariselkä in the North of Lapland and we were divided in two cottages.

We had to take the train from Turku to Tampere and then the Traveling Agency sent a bus to pick us up in Tampere to bring us to our destination. The trip was long and we did many stops in order to give the driver a break but also to visit the Ice castle of Kemi and Santa Claus’ Village. When we finally arrived at our cottage we were drained of energy, but we still took the time to do a quick trip to the sauna before going to sleep. The next day, everyone went to the ski resort while I stayed at the cottage to work and go shopping. In one of the shops, I met a man that showed me various Sàmi music bands and styles. Then we talked about the similarities between Canada and Finland, the Sàmi culture and the Native Americans’, the language discrimination in the 60s and the temperatures of Lapland, which is the same as where I was born and raised. It was really interesting and enriching.

The other days where full of events, we went to a reindeer farm and learned a bit about Sàmi culture and went dog sledging at a husky farm. The husky farm is an amazing experience and the mentors where awesome. Every night of our trip, after the events and dinner, we would go to the sauna and go to the top of the mountain to see the northern lights. The first night we couldn’t see anything. The second, we saw what looked like a ‘’dancing city light’’ and the third night we finally saw the full green light in the sky. We returned home and went to the sauna, and then someone going to the snow shouted to come out. We could see the northern lights clearly from the cottage, in the middle of the village.

Then the last event we had planned was the Norway trip. Most of it was a bus ride, but the landscapes are so beautiful, changing and enchanting that I didn’t sleep. I looked outside my window all the time. Then in Bugøynes, a small village of fishermans, we ate fish soup and listened to a presentation on the village’s history. Some people went to the sauna and then dipped in the Arctic Ocean while others were visiting the village.

Overall, the Lapland trip is an amazing experience that everyone going to Finland should try. Everything seems rushed since there is a strict schedule, but you get to see so many things at the end of the day you are extenuated. You might think it is really pricy when you register and pay for the whole trip. Afterwards though, when you think back of everything you saw and experienced there, it has no price.

70 million people worldwide claim Irish heritage. It should come as no surprise then that many Irish people are of the opinion their national holiday is often better celebrated abroad. From parades in New York and Sydney to green rivers in Chicago to green Pyramids in Egypt, it is pretty heart-warming to see the mark Irish people have left around the world and the affection so many nations continue to hold for our heritage and culture. This March 17th just passed, for the first time that I can remember, I spent St. Patrick’s Day outside of Ireland – in Turku to be exact.

When I first arrived in Turku I, for some reason unknown even to myself, didn’t really hold out too much hope of meeting other Irish people… clearly I should have known better! There are few places around the world where you will struggle to find an Irish person; we’re well accustomed to travelling to far-flung places. And speaking from experience, while we Irish always try our best to integrate and meet other nationalities, it is nice to have a few familiar accents floating around nearby! That is something that I think I will remember about my time here in Turku when I leave next week – the network of fellow Irish that you know are there to back you up or buy you a shot of Jameson or a pint of Guinness… even though you wouldn’t think about drinking whiskey or stout when you’re at home.

I titled the blog ‘St. Paddy’s Week’ because the celebration of my national day in Turku extended well beyond 24 hours. From the St. Paddy’s party in Marilyn organised by ESN on the 13th to feeding my housemates Shepard’s Pie (minced beef/lamb topped with mashed potato and baked in the oven) on St. Patrick’s Day itself; my St. Patrick’s Week in Finland is certainly one I am going to fondly remember.

Of course somewhere between all these posts, there must be a story about the Northern lights! So, here is mine.
In Lapland I was hoping to finally do one of the things you should absolutely do once in your life, see the aurora borealis. I had the image already in my head: everyone standing in the cold looking at the sky to spot this incredible phenomenon.

Three nights in a row we decided to try to spot the northern lights. We braved the 1.5 km sledge hill, walking in a maniac fast pace and managed to reach the top of the hill. Up on the hill, we lay in our sledges watching the sky with 3 stars, a lot of clouds and even more wind while -22 degrees. That did not last long. Luckily we were smart enough to bring some sledges with us so we had a lot of fun sledging down in the dark. Realizing that one of us came down walking with a bloody nose after crashing into a (normally very sweet) Thai girl. Also the next night we went to the hill, hoping to be luckier this time. And we were, because we saw something greenish, but not really spectacular. We were constantly wondering if we’re looking at a greenish cloud or the actual northern lights. Quite particularly that basically everyone gathers at the top of a mountain in -27 to see a natural phenomenon.

The last night we went up again and yes the greenish cloud was there again, unfortunately the wind and cold also. A little disappointed we went home, to the sauna. When two of my friends went outside in front of our cottage to cool off after sauna, suddenly out of nowhere the actual northern lights appeared! And we had been joking before that we really had paid enough for our trip to Lapland to let the northern lights simply be included in the trip. I never would have thought that I would see the northern lights standing in my pajamas on bare feet in the snow but yes, it’s true! After one minute it was gone and it started somewhere else. But this is something I will never forget!

A comparison between studying in Ghana and Finland is nothing fun, considering the huge differences in teaching methods, facilities, educational cultures, student behaviors and so on. In this article, I will touch on my experiences in Ghana and Finland. I studied from daycare until high school in Ghana and in Finland I have done short courses and also polytechnic level.

The number of students in a class is usually high in Ghana compared to Finland. In most of my classes in Finland, there are usually about 20 students in a lecture but there could be over 200 students in one lecture in Ghana. This has changed over the years because infrastructure is developing and so on but I guess it will still take some time.

I am more relaxed when it comes to examinations here because there is not much pressure on me and this is because we usually write exams right after a course and you can always take re-exams up to three times before you would have to retake the course. This was not the case in Ghana, usually we would study different course for over four months and take all the exams at the same time which makes the stress more and we usually do not get any reading materials or possible topics for the examination.

In my personal and honest opinion, I enjoy more as student in Finland than in my home country. It’s not a surprise that the educational system of Finland is rated the number one in the world.

If I can give you one advice for your stay in Finland it would be; Try to become friends with Finnish people. That’s how you will really get to know the culture, the customs and how amazing people in Finland are. Luckily for me, my student tutor is amazing. She invited me to bars and parties with her and her friends, and lately, to a friend’s cottage where they were going to spend a few days.

So from the 17th to the 20th of February, I was able to live Finnish culture at its fullest. The cottage was situated on an Island in the archipelago and we had to take a Ferry to go there. We were eating all the time, and the biggest meals were always traditional Finnish meals, because they wanted me to try as many as they could while I was there.

We relaxed by watching movies and tv shows most of the day. The last day we watched a Swedish tv show and the subtitles were in Finnish, so I had to pay a lot of attention to what was going on. It was great though because I really had to put my head to it and I had my friends really helping me out, answering my questions and telling me what some of the words meant.

We also played board games, drank and chatted. At some point it even changed into a Finnish class where they were telling me about the Finnish culture and language. I was like a child pointing at everything I see and asking ‘’How do you say THAT in Finnish?’’ I was scared that it would bother them after a while but it didn’t seem like it. They looked more flattered that I was interested in their culture and learning from them.

During the day, they would start warming up the sauna and the Jacuzzi and later in the evening we would spend all our time in there. Going from the Sauna, to the snow and to the Jacuzzi. We had to wear a cap in the Jacuzzi since it was outside and it was quite cold. Sometimes it was hard to breathe because of the steam coming out from it.

In the sauna, they kept pouring water on the stones so it reached really high temperatures, the highest they reached while I was inside was 120 degrees (needless to say I didn’t stay a long time.) When it gets really hot, you can barely breathe because the humidity in the air it feels like it burns your lungs. I know it sounds harsh, but after the Sauna you feel amazing, your skin is soft and you feel fresh. They also wiped me with ‘’Vihta’’ which is a bouquet of birch leaves. It’s actually a really soft feeling and it feels great. The Sauna was probably one of the best things I’ve experienced in my life. I really had to put everything I value and the culture I learned aside in order to fully live it and be comfortable, but it was worth it. I came out a new person.

Finally, before coming to Finland you might hear the stereotypes that Finns are shy, cold or depressing. I can understand how that could be your impression when you first arrive here, since people don’t greet. But don’t let that stop you and don’t close yourself to them or you would be missing out. You will realize that once you have been introduced to a Finn and that he feels comfortable with you, he will be quite different than what you might have expected.